Attendance - Jim Garner, Chair, John Hirschmann, Bill Marlin, Donald Riedlinger, Bill Stephens, Jim VanErden, and Greg York. Non-voting members and guests: Sue Anderson (the Sport Development Coordinator for the Eastern Zone), John Ertter, Boots Hall, and Linda Klopfenstein

Call to Order - The meeting was called to order at approximately 7:00 pm by the General Chair, Jim Garner.

Jim had invited input to the Board agenda prior to the meeting. Jim provided the Board with the attached updated agenda for the meeting.

Approval of Minutes - Jim requested approval of the January 14 Board minutes. Riedlinger queried whether the draft minutes accurately reflected the outcome on whether the Board had designated an individual to be the PVS liaison regarding the new pool being built by Arlington County. As a result of this discussion, it was agreed that the minutes of the February Board meeting would show that it appointed Nancy Leach for this purpose. It was noted that if appropriate, Nancy could be accompanied by a PVS Board member if it were important to assure input from Nancy would also be recognized as reflecting the views of PVS.

It was also agreed that the presentation of another matter would be revised.

General Chairman Items -- Jim Garner advised the Board we had just learned of Kerry Ellett's father passing. The Board agreed to make a contribution in his memory.

The Board was updated regarding Ron Whalen's personal situation and the impact it was having on his ability to perform as Operations Chairman. Ron expects to be able to resume his duties shortly and the Board agreed no change should be made at this time.

John Ertter indicated he was working on finalizing the contract with the Equipment Manager since Ron had been unable to do so.

Jim indicated he had received no recommendations to receive an Outstanding Service Award (the Conoco-Phillips Award.) from USA Swimming. He stated that in the absence of suggestions from others, he would take responsibility for this item.

The performance of the host club for the just completed PVS February Distance Meet was discussed. The meet was run at Fairland which allowed 18 lanes to be used, 10 lanes for the 1000 Free and 8 lanes for the 1650 Free. The General Chairman had received a complaint that the timing was done with only one watch per lane. The issue was also raised whether the host club had sufficient experience running this type of meet, whether there were enough watches available at the pool, whether they adequately prepared to advise swimmers which course they would be swimming on, how to handle positive check-in for a distance meet, and had sufficient administrative support, etc. It was also observed this was the only club to bid to host this meet.

Garner advised the Board that he felt that in looking forward, the need for additional administrative help to assure the various needs of PVS could be properly accomplished was becoming increasingly evident. He recommended that the Board should plan to provide for this need as part of our FY05 budget preparation.

A query made regarding the extent to which meet passdown sheets were being received from meets and being used to provide information for use in making future meet awards, lesson learned for future meets, the level of staffing provided at meets, which officials are working meets regularly, etc

It was noted that currently referee affidavits are only received from some dual and tri meets. Passdown sheets, meet director reports, evaluations and sign-in sheets by officials are only received from some meets. There has not been systematic monitoring of this situation for quite some time. Such reports would also be useful if it were ever felt a team's performance in hosting a PVS meet were inadequate and they should not retain the right to host the same meet in the following year.

It will probably take a significant new effort to reeducate Meet Directors as to what is expected of them in this regard and then resume monitoring of what is received from meet sites and taking corrective action when they are not received. A distribution process to get the reports in the hands of those who would make use of the information contained in these reports would also be needed. We also need to make sure Referees understand the importance of doing a passdown sheet.

It was noted that only a few PVS teams are currently doing it properly.

It also also noted the meet passdown sheets are used by the various sessions referees to help maintain consistency between sessions of a given meet as well as provide post-meet information for use in improving future meets.

Bill Marlin had made a proposal prior to the meeting regarding changing the PVS sanctioning rules to allow sanction requests to be submitted up to 30 days prior to a meet. Several Board members had made comments on it prior to the meeting.

Jim Van Erden made an alternative proposal. It would allow meets to be sanctioned after the appropriate deadline if various conditions including the requested meet will not be in direct competition of the existing meet or the Meet Director for the existing meet concurs with the request were met. (It was clarified that they would they would not be permitted in any case if they are on the same weekend as PVS sponsored meets.)

It was agreed that preferable terminology would be to refer to PVS Sponsored meets rather than Open Distance and Championship meets and either condition #1 or #2 must be met -- not both. Condition #3 would have to be met.

Some on the Board felt PVS should not have to sanction any late requests since this procedure denies the Board the opportunity to first get input from Competition regarding the proposal. They felt coaches should be thinking through their competition needs earlier.

The Board voted 5-2 to recommend this change in policy to the House of Delegates for their consideration at the May House of Delegates meeting. The Competition Committee meeting precedes the House meeting so they can provide input if they wish.

It was noted that dual and tri meets already have an exemption so that these sanction requests may be submitted up to 7 days prior to the meet.

PVS Sponsored Meets - Advertisements -- Jim Garner brought to the Board's attention that he had received a query regarding a club that was soliciting advertisements for inclusion in programs at a PVS sponsored meet. While the prohibition against doing so had not been initially located in the P&P, it had now been located -given a different choice of search terms. The prohibition applies to PVS sponsored meets only - it is not applicable to club sponsored meets.

Greg thought this matter had been discussed at Competition Committee meetings in the past and that Competition did not want advertising in heat sheets for meets being sponsored by PVS.

The Board was reminded that it had also discussed this matter at the time and decided it did not want to take on the role of deciding what was acceptable versus unacceptable advertising. It was acknowledged that some advertising would probably be non controversial and other types (e. g., specific advertising by a PVS club, copy inappropriate for young swimmers) would generally be found to be unacceptable.

The Board agreed it was not practical to change the policy for this year regarding whether to accept some types of advertising, but will address for next year at future Board meeting whether it should revise its current policy. Jim Garner indicated that he would advise the club involved of current PVS policy.

Questions were also raised regarding what OCCS was doing to prepare for the PVS 14/U JO Age Group Championship Meet, including staffing it with officials. Boots was asked to contact them and see how they are doing.

[Bill Marlin did contact OCCS shortly after the Board meeting and got feedback on how OCCS was progressing in preparing for this meet. This report was shared with the PVS Board.]

Nominating Committee -- Jim Garner proposed that the Nominating Committee consist of Linda Klopfenstein, Frank Persico and Jim Garner. The Board agreed with this recommendation.

It was noted that all PVS Board members whose terms expire in 2004 may be elected for an additional term if they wish to run again. None have served two full terms in their current position. However, three of the four Board of Review members whose terms expire in 2004 will have served two full terms and may not stand for reelection in that position.

The Board was also advised that the election for Coaches Representative to the PVS Board should take place at the Spring Championship meet. It was also agreed that since Bill Marlin has not yet spent two full terms in this position, he is eligible to stand for reelection if he wishes to do so. Bill Marlin indicated he was interested in doing so.

A notice regarding accepting nominations and the timing of the election will be posted on the website. Jim Garner will accept nominations thru Tuesday March 2. Todd Benedick (as the coach whose term is not expiring) will be responsible for conducting the election. It will be held at PVS 14/U JO Champs and PVS Senior SCY/LCM Champs.

At Large Appointments for HOD Meeting - May, 2004 -- Jim Garner recommended to the Board that the following be designated as the 10 at-large delegates to the PVS House of Delegates as permitted by the By-Laws: Thirl Crudup, Kerry Ellett, John Ertter, Boots Hall, Linda Klopfenstein, Dave Mengering, Rod Montrie, Frank Persico, Don Smith, and Jim Thompson.

The Board concurred with the recommendation to make these appointments.

Swimposium -- Don Riedlinger that he was one of four people appointed to a committee to explore the feasibility of PVS hosting a swimposium. He noted that the general consensus received as feedback from other LSC's was that it was better to have it in fall rather than in the spring, due to the increased enthusiasm of parents and coaches at the beginning of the competition season. There was a general consensus that early September was probably too early to have it given that teams are just getting their season started, and the absence of the Board at convention. Late September/early October is probably better - but there is also a need to take into account PVS's already has an approved competition schedule that starts on Saturday, October 9, 2004.

Boots has indicated she wants a strong component for Officials as part of the Swimposium. Others noted that components for parents, athletes, and club business training are almost always included as well. Some specific suggestions for speakers were mentioned.

The Board addressed the key issue as to whether there is somebody outside the Board ready to take charge of planning this event to make it happen. The general consensus was that given the effort involved, it would be best that an enthusiastic non Board member be available to chair and market it - given the workload Board members already have. It was agreed that the Board can wait no later than its March meeting to appoint somebody to this position if it wants to have a Swimposium in the early fall of 2004.

Sue Anderson advised the Board that the CT LSC had recently conducted a very successful Swimposium. She attributed its success to the fact that the LSC had gotten most of its major teams involved in it. The Board members helped to get their teams committed to supporting it, got the head coaches to come, called off practice to permit attendance, etc. Providing training that the Head Coaches felt would be of benefit to their coaching staff was felt to be very helpful in gaining their support. This suggest that recruiting coach(es) to be at the Swimposium who could make that type of contribution could be very important to a Swimposium's success.

In contrast Sue noted that the least successful Swimposiums had been those where only the LSC Board was pushing it and the head coaches and the clubs had "not bought in." Sue also observed that you always can get the officials to participate.

The Board briefly discussed two swimposium that been held several years ago in PVS (at the Fair Oaks Holiday Inn and the Kenwood Country Club) and one which had to be cancelled due to poor pre-registration (except for the athlete's thread.)

It was agreed that PVS has resources to provide seed money to allow Swimposium planning to proceed.

Senior Division -- Don Riedlinger had submitted written reports in advance of the meeting related to both adaptive swimming and senior swimming - it was agreed to append both minutes to these minutes. The Board indicated it had no questions on these reports

US Open Travel Assistance -- The Board was advised that travel assistance applications had been received on behalf of 19 athletes, 17 of whom they found had satisfied the requirements to make their clubs eligible for reimbursement.

The Board was advised that the two athletes on behalf of whom reimbursement was not being recommended had not satisfied the meet participation requirement. In some cases they had listed Speedo Champion Series or swims at Nationals. There was some discussion whether the fact that such meets (even if technically sanctioned by PVS) were not eligible had been adequately explained. Others noted excluding these meets was consistent with past practice. It was noted that the reason for requiring participation in meets is to allow these athletes to be seen and become an inspiration for our younger swimmers.

The Board approved payment of financial assistance on behalf of these 17 athletes. It was noted that the $3000 cap for assistance for this meet will limit the payment to $176.00 per athlete.

Disability Travel Assistance -- Don Riedlinger made a proposal that the level of financial assistance provided to disabled athletes going to USA Swimming National Championships be made the same as is now given to able bodied athletes. Currently this is $450.00. The amount budgeted for travel assistance in FY'04 of $1250 would not be changed. The Board approved this change.

The question was also raised as to whether these athletes should also have a requirement to participate in PVS sanctioned and/or sponsored meets (as is currently required of able bodied athletes.) The consensus of the Board was that such a requirement should be established - probably starting in 2005, but that it is too late to do for this year (2004.)

Don Riedlinger asked if the level of travel assistance for the Summer 2004 Nationals (to be held in early August in Stanford) needed to be set now. It was noted that we do not yet have an estimate as to how many athletes might attend or how much assistance for the meet will be provided for in the FY 2005 budget.

John E explained that he only planned to go to accrual for just the end of year financial statements - thus it would not be reported on before the end of FY 2004. Therefore, it was agreed that the setting of financial amounts (both cap per athlete and for the meet) could be deferred until preparation of the FY 2005 budget.

Administrative Division -- Bill Stephens reported that approximately an 400 additional athletes had registered in January. Other registration data was provided to the Board pertaining to their age, club as well as information on reviewing the registration status of athletes entered into meets.

Bill noted that PVS had 34 registered clubs, 50% of its athletes were in 4 clubs and 90% were in14 clubs,

Sue Anderson commented we have more registered male swimmers relative to female than many other LSC's.

Don Riedlinger asked if we could assemble other data - which clubs were growing/declining keeping older males, not keeping them, etc. Others observed that if the reports could be produced, some caution would be needed in interpreting them due to merger of clubs, transfer of athletes between clubs, incomplete registration of our athletes in 2002, etc. Don withdrew his request.

It was observed that there were likely at least three impacts on 2004 registrations relative to 2003. Dues had been increased in 2004, the broad introduction of SWIMS makes participation of unregistered athletes in meets more apparent, and greater awareness of how the insurance coverage requirements applies to practice situations is causing some clubs to register more athletes to assure they have coverage.

Bill passed out a draft statement of duties for inclusion in a Registrar's contract. There was no discussion of it at the meeting. Board members were invited to provide comments to Bill.

The Board was advised that the Friendship Mini Meet held on 1/11/2004 between SDS and YORK had not submitted a sanction request until a couple of weeks after the meet was held. The Board approved assessing a fine of $100.

Bill Stephens provided to the Board an updated version of the proposal he had submitted previously regarding Revised PVS Policies Regarding Athlete Registration, Meet Entry and SWIMS Data. The proposed procedures are intended to assure athletes are properly registered prior to competing in meets and assuring they use the correct name and registration number when entering the meet.

The Board was receptive to accepting a lower fine of $10, which was designed to encourage compliance, but not be more punitive than necessary to get compliance. The Board did not feel the proposed doubling of the fine each time for repetitive violations by the same athlete was necessary. The time by which registration files have to go to Sumie and by when the Registrar would get back to the meet director were also discussed.

The possibility of only charging $10 for noise (athlete registered but not entered into meet file with same name spelling and/or registration number as registered with USA Swimming) but charging $25 for unregistered athletes was also raised.

The Board endorsed the concepts contained in the proposal - it asked Bill to look at what else needs to be changed in PVS's P&P.to be makes sure other parts are consistent with this proposed change.

The consensus was that the Board should implement these changes beginning with the 2004 Long Course season.

The Board felt PVS should have a registration clinic next September to reinforce what needs to be done. The hope was stated that another round of changes from USA Swimming will not be forthcoming.

Athlete Representatives -- Neither athlete representative was present at the meeting. Amy Stark's replacement will not be elected until July unless the Board or the athletes take the initiative in the interim. Jim G indicated he had been in contact with Ethan Bassett about the importance of being at as many PVS Board meetings as possible.

Treasurer's Report/Finance Division - The January financial statements had been distributed in advance of the meeting and Board members were invited to submit questions. . PVS current assets on hand as of January 31 were $542,221, including $4,456 in the Dave Davis fund. The depreciated value of PVS's fixed assets was $19,628. In response to a question, it was confirmed that PVS has started depreciating its capital assets this fiscal year. Thus, there is Accumulated Depreciation on the current fiscal year's balance sheet whereas comparable dates for the prior fiscal year do not show any depreciation.

John Ertter reported he had modified how he had handled deck entries from Jan Open In regards to post meet entry reporting. This included making sure we obtain an accurate final pre-meet report of entries. PM's procedures for tracking deck entries were also discussed.

John Ertter advised the Board that our insurance policy has been renewed - though he has not yet gotten new binder or bill. He also reported that all payments for attendance at the 2003 USAS convention in San Diego have now been made.

Questions were asked regarding the condition of PVS's equipment. It was reported that the equipment brought to the Virginia High School AAA Northern Regional Meet (which rented our equipment was not all in good working order. It was agreed that it was important that PVS only provide equipment believed to be in good working order for all types of meets. Equipment that is not in good enough shape to be reliably used at meets should be retired.

It was agreed it was important to get CTS to service our equipment on a regular basis It was noted that Betsy Stevenson is arranging scheduling for the servicing of NVSL club equipment and it might be able to coordinate the servicing of our equipment with that effort.

The Board was advised that FY 2005 Budget preparation is about to begin. Board members who wish new initiatives to be considered for next year's budget should be make them known by the time of the March Board meeting.

Strategic Planning -- Jim VanErden shared with the Board the responses he has received to date on questionnaire he prepared for PVS coaches.

The report Jim circulated provided the actual responses that had been received. He noted he had yet attempted to summarize the responses or develop recommendations based on the input received.

He also indicated he wanted to do an officials questionnaire.

Questions were raised as to whether PVS should take over responsibility for the 14/U Age Group Championship Meet. They felt it was very important for this meet to go well, build athlete enthusiasm and thus help with athlete retention. Concerns were expressed whether the host club will run a good meet. Others asked whether PVS in awarding a bid to host this meet (or any other meet for PVS) has communicated its expectations as to what it expects the host club to do.

It was observed that the role of PVS in meets it sponsors versus club sponsored meets may not be fully understood by all clubs.

Garner indicated he would contact the host club for this meet. It was felt they were probably still looking for officials.

Age Group Division - Greg reported on the status of preparations for the PVS Eastern Zone meet PVS will be staying at the Hyatt Fair Lakes motel - which is the headquarters hotel for the meet. This motel was selected since not all the hotels closer to the pool can provide meals as well. PVS will provide as part of the basic team package (as previously discussed) 3 T-shirts, 3 caps, small bag. A spirit package of additional items that can be ordered on an individual basis -- including a team swim suit -- will be posted on the PVS website shortly.

There was concern that traffic may make it difficult to get from the meet hotel to the meet site in a timely manner - particularly for the evening sessions on Thursday and Friday.

Greg York advised the Board that one coach, James Taschek, needs to resign from the PVS Eastern Zone team He proposed to the Board that both coaches who had not been elected in September (Ash Milad and Kevin Ahearn) be added to the staff. The Board agreed to this change.

The coaches will be expected to stay with zone team throughout the meets -- the athletes must stay with the team the whole time, even if they are just entered into one individual event.

The possibility of identifying a assistant Zone Coordinator to start working with Linda C was discussed. This included the possibility of hiring somebody for a small stipend to do much of the pre-meet administrative work related to the team. If so, this cost could be factored into the meet budget so that this cost is included in the amount PVS charges to be on the team -- so that there would be no net cost to the LSC.

Greg also reported on a recently meeting held by FCPA regarding rental of their pools and rental rates. The Board discussed whether any of the items being discussed would have a significant impact on PVS. Some PVS clubs who rent from FCPA may have additional concerns.

Eastern Zone Spring Meeting --It was noted the May 2004 Eastern Zone Meeting will be Saturday, May 8th in Portland, Maine. As a result, in contrast to the past several years, those in attendance will probably need to travel by air. The most economical flights may be from Baltimore to Manchester via Southwest Air.

The Board discussed who should intend and/or were interested in attending. The following names were identified as likely to want to attend - Kerry Ellett, Jim Garner, Greg York, Don Riedlinger, John Hirschmann, Bill Marlin. Two other possible attendees were also discussed.

Coaches' Representatives -- Bill Marlin reported to the Board regarding criteria and selection process for PVS Age Group Coach of the Year to be presented by ASCA. He passed out a proposal on which he and Todd Benedick had been working. Bill indicated that in preparing it, he and Todd had solicited input on how other LSC's made their selection. Based on comments received from the Board, it was felt that there was no need for the age-up provision and it could probably be eliminated.

A question was also raised whether it was feasible to complete the selection process in the limited time available after the last LC meet in August - this year it would be August 14 - the last day of the Eastern Zone LC meet. Given coaches had a week to submit their nominations, this would leave very limited time for review -given the convention is normally in early September. Also, many in PVS are on vacation in late August and thus will be unable to review submissions, notify the winning coach in a timely manner, etc.

As an alternative, it was proposed that the selection time period go from April 15 to April 15 rather than September 1 to August 31 as had been initially proposed.

Bill mentioned he might add other possible ways to earn points, to minimize the likelihood a coach with only a really outstanding swimmer might win over another who had several very strong swimmers. It was suggested that another alternative would be to place a maximum on the number of points that anyone swimmer can earn for a coach, so that if coach has just a "super star"- their accomplishments will not totally dominate the calculation relative to a coach who has several outstanding athletes.

Operations Division -- The Operations Division Chairman was not present to make a report. Discussion on the following items was deferred as a result -- Equipment Manager Contract, Equipment Rental (discussion only), Requirement for hard copy Colorado print out & HyTek Timing Adjustment and One club only meets - sanction.

Boots reported that the Officials Committee is working on updating the list of certified officials. In particular they were reviewing the records pertaining to those holding HyTek, CTS, etc where there is neither a requirement for recertification and/or the need to be registered with USA Swimming.

Boots also reported she was adding an additional S&T clinic in April [April 18] and had been holding additional make-up clinics for currently certified referees in order to help them retain their certification. The Committee is also taking steps assure that those required to register with USA Swimming for 2004 have done so.

Old Business - The Board was informed (as agreed to at the December 2003 Board meeting) that John Ertter was in the process of arranging for PVS to have an attorney available to it on retainer.

The status of finalizing QT's for the PVS Senior Long Course Championship Meet in July was raised and briefly discussed. It was noted that at the January Board meeting, the desirability of having a special Competition Committee to discuss these QT's was raised.

New Business -- No new business was raised.

Next Board Meeting -- The Board agreed to have it next meeting on Monday, March 15 at 630p.

Adjournment - The meeting adjourned at approximately 10:00 pm.